Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1887-08-18
AN AVALANCHE OF WOE,
The Most Appalling Railroad Ac-
c1dent in the Annals of
the Country.
a Heavily Loaded Excursion Train
Wrecked by the Burning
of Bridge.
"a Scene of Death, Manning and
Destruction that Beggars
Description.
Over Hundred Persons Killed and Twice
rs Many Injured-Harrowirg Dc tails
-Robbing the victims--PartiaI
List of Killed and In ured.

-Robbing the victims-PartiaI
List of Killed and In ured.
FOREST, ILL.,, Aug. II. - Seventy.fiy,
Killed and three hundred injured, perhap.
score of them fatally, is the appalIin 2
record OF last nights disater, two miles
east OF this town. Before daylight this
morning there were sixty-fve bodies laid
out on the prairie, and forty or fifty wound
ed were lying under some bushes not fal
away. Some of the latter died while being
tnted upon Hat cars for transportation tc
this village. At the wreck hundreds OF
men were searching for more victims, and
shortly after daylight four more unrecog.
nlzable masses of human flesh and tattered
Clothing were found deep in the ruins.
The disaster occurred just before mid
night. In the doomed train were sixteen
cars, all but one carrying passengers, and
the whole drawn by two engines. The
train had left Peoria about five O'Clock
carrying more than six hundred excur.
sionists bound for Niagara Falls. Two
miles from this place was a little trestle on
fire, caught from the burning prairie, no
longer than fifteen feet, and above the
ditch no more than six feet. This little
culvert's destruction we'll nigh caused the
destruction of the entire train. The Gull
vert safely bore the first engine,
but the wheels of its tender were caught
In the sinking rails, and frightful wreck
6nsued. Car after car leaped the narrow
.chasm, and telescoped the coaches proceed
ing. The great weight and impetus of the
half-dozen Pullman sleepers drove their
huge frames with terrible force against
the chair cars and day coaches ahead of
them. The cars were so telescoped that it
was almost impossible to tell the ruins of
one from another. One coach entered an
other, splitting it, and showing all the
seats and passengers in the far end, leav-
ing the floor as clean as if swept by q
broom.
In the train there were sixteen cars
hrst the baggage car, then the private car
of Superintendent Armstrong, followed by
six day coaches, two chair cars and six
sleepers. All of these except the sleepers,
were engulfed in the wreck. The first
sleeper stopped with it's forward trucks in
the Inflated culvert, like its fellows, I'M
harmed. But the nine passenger cars and
the baggage car were heaped in a mass of
kindling wood. In jumping the culvert
three or four of the cars left their trucks
buried in the embankment, one under an
other, to a depth of eight feet. The car
bodies left the trucks and hurled them
selves against the cars preceding
The disaster came absolutely without
locomotive, Dave Sutherland, had no op-
portunity to apply the brakes before reach
ing the culvert, under which the flames
had crept almost unobserved. The engin-
eer of the second locomotive, Ed. McClin-
took, was killed with his hand on the
throttle. His body was crushed and his
head is still under the engine. Abner APP
plegreen, his fireman, says no fire was
seen in the culvert. The first he knew of
H. 81
roar, which he could not understand, and
he suddenly found himself waist-deep in
debris, his engineer lying headless by his
side.
PEORIA, ILL.,, Aug. 11.-4:30 p. M.-The
train bearing the survivors of the terrible
accident has Just come in. They confirm
the news of the awful disaster. The sur
vivors say that the scenes at the wreck
were frightful. 1t took fire, and as they
had no water they were obliged to ex-
rtinguish the flames with dust taken from
the prairie. While they were at work the
tornado struck them, and the shrieking of
the wind added to the terrors of the
scene.
III. W. White, printer who lives in this
city, was among the survivors, and has
given your correspondent full account of
the holocaust. He says: 81 was in the
second sleeper, and we were going
along about midnight when there came a
peculiar jostling. thought that we had
been derailed. Our porter said we are
all right when some one said There is
fire ahead I got up and went to the
front. The head engine had rushed on.
The second engine had tumbled into the
chasm. 1t had telescoped and the engine
was a shapeless mass. The first car was
turned to right and left of the track, and
= mi, n %oIa
piled up in one heap.
Several of US climbed in the cars with
axes and lanterns and went to work. The
first man we found was Billy Stevens, the
confectioner. He was dead. We pulled
him out after some effort, and then pulled
his two daughters, Emma and Ida, out.
They were all dead. Every one was
groaning and crying. Their feet seemed
to be jammed. Most of them had their
legs broken. After an hour and a half we
cleared the car. They were offering fifty
dollars for relief. Probably there was
dozen bodies taken out. Mrs. Deal was
one of these.
81 then went down on the ground and
assisted in taking the dead down. They
put plank up and helped them out, slid
ing them down the plank. If they were
dead they put them in one pile. If alive,
they put them in another. Every live per-
son seemed to want to see their families at
once. There were in Mrs. James Deals
party five persons besides herself, Mrs.
Williams, Mrs. Webster, Mrs. Ball, Jennie
O'Shaughnessy. Every one of them was
killed but the last, and were horribly dis
figured. 1t was late in the afternoon be-
fore they were recognized.
zone of the horrible incidents was
man well dressed, who was so badly in
jured that his bowels were protruding. He
called necessarily for water, and as he
could not be attended to, finally pulled out
his revolver and shot himself through the
head.
One little boy, the son of the Methodist
minister at Arlington, Frank Snader,
about twelve years old, was found on the
bosom of hts dead mother. His left leg
hung by the skin. His right arm was
broken, and one eye was put out.
He never uttered groan. They pulled
him out and tried to give him drink of
brandy. He refused to take it and said,
"Give me water"
81 found head hanging from the truck.
1t was apparently a mans, and had been
held by the hair. 1 found several head
less bodies. Those who recognized the
dead Immediately Iticketed them. Coroner
Bennett was on board and did most of the
noble work. George w. Scott, the coal
man. recognized e. Godel, the butcher.
Mrs. Zimmerman, Mrs. Valedjo and Cap
tain Dahl, the harbor master, and Fred
Wednette. the ex-county treasurer, are
among the dead.
zone of the most awful sights was that
some of those released robbed the DEAD Oh